Gimping machine



March 6, 1934. D. J. MAYER GIMPING MACHINE Filed NOV. 11, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ja zgif Mayer;

March 6, 1934. D J. MAYER GIMPING MACHINE Filed Nov. 11, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E A Q Q INVENTOR Jana?! c'f 'zkyfilj i f ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 6, 1934 PATENT OFFICE,

GIIVIPING MACHINE Daniel J. Mayer, Belleville, N. J assignor to Metal Textile Corporation, West Orange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application November 11, 1932, Serial No. 642,178

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in gimping machines adapted to spirally wind a strand of gimp material upon a carrier strand; and the invention has reference, more particularly, to improvements in gimping machines of the kind disclosed in prior United States Letters Patent No. 1,836,331, dated December 15th, 1931.

This invention has for its principal object to provide in connection with a gimping machine an improved form of winding needle or mandrel having novel actuated means for uniformly discharging therefrom the gimp convolutions wound or formed thereon, whereby the speed of the winding operations may be raised to increase the output of the machine, without risk of jamming or overlapping of gimp convolutions with resultant likelihood of breakage of the material and consequent interruption of operation and loss of use of the machine; and, whereby a more uniformly spaced distribution of the gimp convolutions upon and along the carrier strand is assured. v

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be understoodfrom the following detailed description of the same.

Illustrative embodiments of this invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Fig. 1 is a side elevation in part of a gimping machine according to this invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same; Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section of the novel winding needle or mandrel devices of the machine; and Fig. 4 is a similar fragmentary vertical section of a modified form of the novel winding needle or mandrel devices of the mais formed as a forward extension of the armature or rotor shaft of an electric motor (not shown), whereby said motor serves as a power source for actuating all driven parts of the machine in a manner similar to that disclosed in my aforesaid United States Patent No. 1,836,331, dated December 15th, 1931. 1

Said arbor 5 is hollow or of tubular form, and extending axially therethrough is a fixed mandrel 7, suitably held against rotation by attachment of its rear end to a supporting bracket 8 to which it is affixed by a set-screw 9. Said mandrel may, of course, be otherwise fixed and supported in any other suitable manner. Said mandrel '7 is provided, to extend forwardly therethrough from its rearward end, with a longitudinal axial bore 10. Said bore 10 terminates, adjacent to the forward end of the mandrel '7, at an internal shoulder 11, from which extends outwardly through said forward end of the mandrel a bore extension 12 of reduced diameter. Rotatably mounted in said bore 10 of mandrel 7 is an internal spindle 13 having at its forward end a feed worm member 14 of reduced diameter arranged to project outwardly through the reduced bore extension 12 of mandrel '7. Said feed worm member 14 is provided with an external helical worm rib 15 extending around and along the same. Said mandrel 7 is provided at its forward end with a head portion 16 of outwardly tapered form, the exterior surface of which converges uponsaid worm member 14. Said head portion 16 terminates at one side in a needle tongue 1'7 extending outwardly along the side of the inner portion of said worm member 14. The rear end of said internal spindle 13 projects exteriorly beyond the rear extremity of said mandrel, and is provided, at such rear end, with suitably actuated transmission means, including, for example, the drive sprocket and chain 18, whereby the internal spindle l3 and its feed worm member 14 may be rotated. In one form of the gimping mechanism, said internal spindle and its feed worm member 14 is provided with an axial passage 19 extending therethrough, through which a carrier strand S may be led from a suitable source of supply to emerge from the extremity of the feed worm member 14 to thence extend to a suitable take-up mechanism (not shown) by which, as gimped with spirally convolved gimping material G, the finished product may be reeled or spooled up in the usual manner, and so that at the same time, such carrier strand S is continuously drawn away from the mandrel devices as the gimping G is formed and delivered thereupon.

In the preferred form of gimping machine as shown in the drawings, the spool 6, upon which is spooled a supply of material to be used as the g mping strand G, is fixed on said arbor 5, so as to be positively rotated thereby, by means of a rearward wedge sleeve 20 and a forward wedge sleeve 21, which are respectively interposed between the bore 22 of the spool 6 and the arbor 5, When. the former is telescopically disposed over the latter, thus frictionally building the spool to the arbor.

Freely rotatable, adjacent to the forward end of said supply spool 6, when the same is operatively fixed on the arbor 5, is a flier 23, the same preferably being in the form of a light weight aluminum disk. To thus mount the flier 23, a ball-bearing means 24 or other form of antifriction bearing is mounted upon said forward wedge sleeve 21 to rotatably support the flier disk. Said flier disk is provided adjacent to its outer periphery with an opening or eye, which is preferably in the form of an eye-let member 25 of hard material such as agate or the like, whereby it is adapted to withstand the wear of the gimp strand G moving therethrough, while at the same time ofiering a minimum of frictional resistance to the free movement of said gimp strand during such movement therethrough.

In the operation of the machine, the carrier strand S (Which may be of any suitable material, such e. g. as textile cord, metallic wire, etc.) is led through the passage 19 of the internal spindle 13 and its worm member 14 so as to extend to the take-up mechanism. From supply spool 6, which carries the gimp strand G (which may be also of any suitable material, such e. g. as round or flat metallic wire, tinsel, etc.), said gimp strand is led through the eye-let member 25 of the flier 23, and thence down to and around the head portion 16 of the mandrel '7. As the take-up mechanism draws onward the carrier strand S, the supply spool is positively rotated to unwind the gimp strand G therefrom, and the flier disk 23, moving in the direction of the spool rotation and under the pull of the gimp strand as it unwincls from the spool 6, serves to carry the gimp strand around the needle tongue 1'7 and feed worm member 14, and consequently volutions are formed, the formed convolutions will be engaged by the turning worm rib 15 so that such formed convolutions are positively and progressively advanced along the needle tongue 1'7 and worm. member 14 so as to be discharged off of the extremity of said worm member and around the carrier strand S, whereby the same are disposed upon the latter in substantially uniformly spaced apart relation desired, and thereby completing the formation of the desired gimped product read to be wound or reeled up by the take-up mechanism of the machine.

It will be obvious that, owing to the progressive outward movement of the gimp convolutions produced by propelling action of the rotating feed worm member 14 and its helical rib 15, all risk of jamming, overlapping, piling up or entanglement of said gimp convolutions during formation of the same by the gimp Winding operations is entirely avoided, and that these winding operations may be safely speeded up to increase the output supply spool is positively driven with unwinding effect upon the material thereon, and whereby the free rotating flier is moved in company with the rotated spool to guide the gimp strand around the mandrel and around the feed worm member for positively discharging the formed convolutions from the mandrel (which is the type of mechanism disclosed in my before mentioned United States Patent No. 1,836,331) it will nevertheless be obvious that the novel arrangement of combined mandrel and feed worm means, which is the principal novel feature of the instant invention, may, with equal advantage, be employed with other types of gimp winding means, as that, for example, in which the filer means is positively driven to both pull off the gimp strand from a supply spool and to then wind the same about the mandrel devices.

While I believe it preferable to provide the central axial passage 19 through the spindle 13 and feed worm member 14 to accommodate the movement of the supply of carrier strand S through the machine and subject to the gimp Winding and applying operations, I desire to point out that other methods of guid the carrier rangement, the rotating feed worm member 14 will operate equally well to positively propel forward and discharge the formed gimp convolutions finally upon the carrier strand. There are no doubt other methods and means available for operatively relating the moving carrier strand to the winding mandrel and feed worm member, and consequently I do not intend to limit the invention, in its broader aspects to any particular arrangement calculated to serve such pur- I could be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the following claims, and consequently it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the kind described, a man drel, a rotatable spindle extending axially through said mandrel, said spindle terminating in an exteriorly projecting feed worm member, said mandrel having a head portion converging upon said feed worm member, means to guide a longitudinally advanced carrier strand in operative relation to said mandrel and feed worm member, and means to wind a gimp strand about the head portion of said mandrel and upon said feed Worm member, whereby the formed gimp strand convolutions are positively engaged and progressively advanced and discharged by said feed worm member onto the advancing carrier strand.

2. In a machine of the kind described, a fixed mandrel, a rotatable spindle extending axially through said mandrel, said spindle terminating in an exteriorly projecting feed worm member, said spindle and feed worm member having an axial passage to guide an advancing carrier strand therethrough, said mandrel having a head portion converging upon said feed worm member and terminating in a needle tongue parallelling the latter, and means to wind a gimp strand about the head portion of said mandrel and upon said feed Worm member, whereby the formed gimp strand convolutions are positively engaged and progressively advanced and discharged by said feed worm member onto the advancing carrier strand.

3. In a machine of the kind described as defined in claim 2, wherein the gimp strand winding means comprises a hollow arbor rotatable about said mandrel, a spool to hold a supply of gimp strand fixed on and rotated by said arbor to unwind said gimp strand therefrom, and a flier means freely rotatable about said mandrel intermediate the head portion thereof and said spool to carry the spool discharged gimp strand with winding efiect about said mandrel head portion and said feed worm member.

4. In a machine of the kind described as defined in claim 1, wherein the gimp strand winding means comprises a hollow arbor rotatable about said mandrel, a spool to hold a supply of gimp strand fixed on and rotated by said arbor to unwind said gimp strand therefrom, and a winding flier means freely rotatable about said mandrel intermediate said head portion thereof and said spool.

DANIEL J. MAYER. 

